


An Ice Caster in a Tokyo Heatwave

by Code_The_Poet



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Implied ADHD Ryuji, Implied Autistic Yusuke, Mild morbid humour, but Yusuke's not joking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Code_The_Poet/pseuds/Code_The_Poet
Summary: What happens when an ice caster is trapped in a sweltering dorm room with no air conditioning during a heatwave? He texts his most impulsive friend to notify him of his impending death, of course.
Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke & Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 14
Kudos: 102





	An Ice Caster in a Tokyo Heatwave

**Author's Note:**

> I have a notoriously low heat tolerance and am prone to being dramatic about it, so I decided to put Yusuke in a similar situation. This takes place sometime during summer vacation in the timeline of the game.

Yusuke was melting.

At least, he was pretty sure he was. He couldn’t think of any other explanation for the agony he was currently in. The air in his dorm room was stifling, pressing down on him with a weight so oppressive that he was starting to believe he might never move again. His body had already coated itself in a thick layer of sweat in a futile attempt to cool itself, but this only served to deepen his discomfort.

Yes, he was definitely melting.

Normally, the approach of one of Tokyo’s famous summer heatwaves would have prompted Yusuke to seek shelter in a more advantageous location. The refreshing atmosphere of an underground subway station, the cool darkness of the planetarium, and the mercifully air-conditioned Cafe Leblanc were a few of his usual refuges when the summer heat climbed into the “danger” zone. Yesterday, however, he had been so engrossed in a new painting that he must have forgotten to check the weather forecast. That brief lapse in judgement currently seemed to be endangering his entire wellbeing.

Yusuke was no stranger to dangerous situations. Not only had he recently escaped the clutches of his corrupted mentor, but his tendency to hyperfocus on his artistic pursuits often led to him forgetting to perform basic tasks such as eating and sleeping (much to the dismay of his friends, who frequently urged him to take better care of himself). He had been chased by Shadows, escaped from collapsing Palaces, and faced dangerous foes in the Metaverse. The thought that he would be defeated by something as mundane as heat was unbearable, yet even that wasn’t enough to motivate him to do anything about it.

He had briefly considered fleeing his dorm room when he’d felt this coming on, but the thought of stepping into the scorching sun that was no doubt dominating the outside world was equally undesirable. Plus, he couldn’t stand the idea of moving as it would cause his already overworked body to sweat even more. Better to lay in his sweltering prison cell of a dorm room with the shades pulled down in order to conserve as much energy as possible, on the off-chance he made it out of this alive. He wondered idly if someone would find him right away, or whether he would dry up like one of those Egyptian mummies before anyone thought to check on him (a topic that was very fresh in his mind after their recent adventure in the Palace that had resided in the daughter of Ren’s guardian, Sojiro).

Then the phone in his hand vibrated and startled him out of that rather morbid train of thought. With what seemed like a gargantuan effort, Yusuke moved his arm to stare at the display. It was disturbingly bright after hours (or was it days?) of lying in the dark, and he blinked in an effort to clear his vision. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw that it was a text from Ren reminding him to drink water and take a break from painting. The thought that he should be painting right now momentarily disturbed him, but he managed to shake it off by telling himself that there was no way he could focus on capturing beauty when he couldn’t even get off the floor. Then he wondered what the leader of the Phantom Thieves would think of him giving up so easily and felt suddenly ashamed.

What could he do? Moving was out of the question, which eliminated most sensible courses of action. He briefly considered texting Ren to ask for help, but if he was being completely honest with himself (which he wasn’t) he would have admitted that he was slightly embarrassed of being discovered like this. Plus Ren would be rational and patient, as he always was, and Yusuke could not stand the idea of someone scrutinizing his current dilemma under a rational lens. What he needed was someone impulsive, someone who would jump to his aid without stopping first to think about all of the logical ways that this could be solved. Then it came to him.

What he needed was Ryuji.

_> Ryuji, I am in dire need of your assistance. I assure you that I would not bother you if it weren’t of the utmost importance. Please come to my dorm room immediately if you are available._

Yusuke paused, rereading his message and trying to view it from Ryuji’s point of view. Did it accurately convey the distress, the desperation that he felt? After a moment of contemplation, he added another sentence. Surely even Ryuji would grasp the severity of the situation with this.

_> I believe that my life may be in direct danger._

Satisfied that his message would be appropriately understood, Yusuke let his arm drop back to the floor. All he had to do now was wait.

\--

Ryuji stared at his phone and cursed under his breath. What had that idiot artist done this time? He briefly considered texting back and demanding more information, but the adrenaline was already coursing through his veins and he found himself abandoning the arcade game in front of him without a second thought.

The streets of Shibuya seemed even hotter after the air-conditioned arcade. Ryuji knew it would be unwise to run as hard as he could in this weather, so he settled for a quick jog towards the station. As he ran, possible scenarios rushed through his head. Perhaps the unknown Metaverse user had somehow tracked them down and was attacking them one by one, with Yusuke being the first victim. But that were the case, wouldn’t he have contacted the group as a whole? Maybe he was trying to avoid putting the others in danger as well, and Ryuji felt a brief flicker of fear at the thought that a fight might be awaiting him at the end of this journey. Then he thought of Yusuke facing a formidable foe alone, scared out of his mind, and against his better judgement he sped up.

“C’mon, faster!” he growled at the agonizingly slow escalator to the subway platform, earning dirty looks from the adults in suits that surrounded him, but for once Ryuji didn’t care if they thought he was being impatient. His friend was in potentially life-threatening danger and he was going to get there as fast as humanly possible.

Standing on the train was even more torturous than riding the escalator. Ryuji bounced up and down on his heels, trying to contain the nervous energy that coursed through him. The subway was moving too slow, and the stops were too long. He would rather be running, screw the heat, because even if it were objectively slower than the subway at least he would feel like he was doing _something_. It was this feeling that possessed him to get off a stop early and run the rest of the way to Kosei High School, forging his path through the sweltering air with all the speed that he could muster. He could almost hear Ren warning him to be less reckless, but he shook it off and focused instead on his goal.

Sprinting through the gates of the school, he made a beeline for the dorms. The security guard at the front desk reached out to stop him, and he skidded to a stop just in time.

“Don’t have time for this, my friend needs me!” he gasped. He knew he was being rude, but thankfully the guard seemed to recognize the desperation in his voice and simply held out the visitors’ log for him to sign. His writing wouldn’t have earned him any points in class (not that it usually did anyways), but it must have been legible enough because the guard waved him through.

Jeez it was hot in these dorms, noticed Ryuji as he took off through the narrow hallways towards Yusuke’s room (which he occasionally visited to pick Yusuke up for their weekly beef bowl excursion). He stopped in front of the familiar door and knocked loudly, though perhaps with more force than he realized as it caused the door to fly open with a bang.

The scene in front of him was unexpected, to say the least. There was no threatening figure leering at him as it prepared to take the life of his friend, and in fact Ryuji didn’t see any immediate source of danger at all. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, however (why would Yusuke be sitting in the dark? Was this a trap?), he began to make out the shape of his friend’s body on the floor.

“Yusuke!” he cried, dropping to his knees beside his friend. Was he too late? Had the mysterious villain already come and left, leaving behind the corpse of his friend in some sick power move?

The shape on the ground flinched at the shout, turning its head away from staring blankly at the ceiling to look at him. “Ryuji. You came.” Then it frowned. “Did you run all the way from the subway station?”

“Of course I effing did!” choked out Ryuji, suddenly aware that his chest was heaving from the effort of running. “It sounded like you were about to be murdered or something!”

“In a way, I suppose I was,” agreed Yusuke with a heavy sigh. “I certainly feel as if I am in immediate danger of suffocating, even now.”

“What do you mean?” Ryuji stared at his friend, trying to determine what could have prompted such a desperate call for help if not a ruthless murderer. “Are you sick? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Yusuke sighed again. “No, I am merely suffering the side effects of a surplus of heat.”

“Wait a minute.” Ryuji’s mind raced as he struggled to decipher Yusuke’s frustratingly cryptic way of speaking. “Are you telling me you called me here because you’re _hot!?_ ”

The boy on the floor glared at him. “I am not simply ‘hot’, as you would describe it. Such a word doesn’t even begin to convey the agony that I feel right now.”

“Oh my god,” said Ryuji in disbelief. “You really did call me here because you’re hot.”

Yusuke let out a whine of protest. “You don’t understand. I am mere minutes from certain death.” Okay that might be a bit of an exaggeration, as he was pretty sure he had at least a few hours in him yet, but he was annoyed that Ryuji didn’t seem to understand how dire the situation was. “I have been trapped in this seemingly never-ending cycle of suffering for so long that I have nearly given up hope. Surely you must understand the feeling of wanting to rip off your skin in order to free yourself from the torment of your physical form.”

Ryuji groaned in frustration. Why did Yusuke always have to be so dramatic? Still, as he thought about it, he remembered how he had felt on the subway, the prickling sensation associated with waiting and boredom that made him need to _do something_ or he would lose his mind. Perhaps the heat was similarly unbearable for Yusuke? That might be giving him too much credit, but Ryuji could at least give his friend the benefit of the doubt, couldn’t he?

With a sigh of his own, Ryuji resigned himself to the task. “Alright, is there anything I can do to help? You did call me here, after all.”

By Yusuke’s silence, it was evident that he hadn’t thought that far ahead. Then again, he had been rather distracted with the imaginary headlines that would herald his death. “Promising Young Artist Discovered in Puddle After Cruel Heatwave”, or perhaps “Kosei Dorms Found to be Hotter Than Venus After Tragic Death of Student”. He had mentally prepared himself to become the martyr for the implementation of a new law that mandated air conditioning in every livable space, a fitting footnote to his soon-to-be short and tragic life. Not once had he considered what calling for help could accomplish.

“So you don’t even want me to do anything, you just called me here so that you would have someone to feel sorry for you?” asked Ryuji, and Yusuke wondered whether the lack of surprise in his voice was a good or bad sign.

“Perhaps,” he admitted without thinking, and then mentally kicked himself for responding too quick. “But you could back up a little, for starters. Your body heat is only adding to this dilemma.”

Ryuji seemed about to retort, but he pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to contain his temper. “Yusuke,” he said, “I am trying to _help_ you.”

“Oh.” Yusuke considered that for a moment, and realized that he probably sounded rather rude to someone who wasn’t experiencing the same degree of anguish that he was. “My apologies, Ryuji, I did not mean to be impolite. I do not have any better idea of how to respond to my predicament than you.” He hesitated before adding, “Though I truly would appreciate it if you moved back slightly. I can feel the heat from your body and it is another source of discomfort I would rather not deal with.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll move back.” Ryuji wasn’t in the mood to argue, and anyways it wouldn’t hurt to move back a little if it made Yusuke even slightly more comfortable. He scooted back so that there was a respectable amount of space between them. “Better?”

“Much,” agreed Yusuke, and a silence fell between them as they both wondered what to do next.

“What if we went somewhere less hot?” suggested Ryuji finally. “Leblanc has AC, or we could go to the planetarium that you like.”

“Impossible.” Yusuke stared back up at the ceiling. “The energy required to force myself upright would surely do me in before I made it to any place less torturous than here.”

Ryuji waved his hand. “Jeez, you don’t have to be so dramatic about it. Okay, we’ll figure out a way to cool you down here then.”

Yusuke smiled grimly. “It eases my mind somewhat to have an ally on my side in this battle.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryuji said, running through the other ideas in his mind. Most of them required leaving the dorms, which was now out of the question. “What if you worked on some art to take your mind off of it? I’ll even pose for you if you need inspiration.”

Yusuke was quiet for a moment, seriously considering the offer. He was constantly begging his friends to model for him, and Ryuji was particularly adverse to it (mainly the “having to sit still” part of it, as he was prone to fidgeting), but the thought of moving to collect his art supplies pushed the possibility out of his mind. “I am suffering far too much to properly convey my emotions on a canvas,” he explained finally.

“Of course you are,” grumbled Ryuji, which was probably supposed to be under his breath so Yusuke pretended to ignore it.

There was another silence as they both retreated to their thoughts once more, Ryuji frantically racking his brain for potential solutions and Yusuke wondering if he should have texted Ren after all.

“Hey, um, I’m not sure if this will work…” Ryuji paused, wondering if the words would sound as stupid in his mouth as they did in his head. “But have you tried, like, thinking cold thoughts?” No, that definitely sounded just as stupid as it had in his head, thought Ryuji. “Never mind, that was a dumb suggestion.”

But Yusuke looked intrigued. “Cold thoughts? What do you mean?”

“Well, try thinking about a really cold and refreshing drink or something, I dunno.” Trying to explain only made it sound stupider at first, but then Ryuji had an idea. “Oh I know! Why don’t you think about your Bufu thingy?”

“My Bufu thingy,” repeated Yusuke, the words feeling odd in his mouth.

“Yeah, you know, how it feels to cast it. You pro’lly get a bit chilly from that, don’t you?” Ryuji can tell he’s rambling now, but he’s not sure what else to do. Was there even a rational way to respond to a situation as irrational as this?

“It is a rather refreshing feeling,” admitted Yusuke. “It feels like I’m channeling the power of winter itself. As if there is a blizzard brewing within me—”

“Exactly like that!” Ryuji couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, and Yusuke glared at him for interrupting his monologue. “Sorry, go on.”

Yusuke continued describing how it felt to cast his ice magic, and Ryuji was pretty sure he had to be making at least some of this up because there was no way that someone could feel this much at once. Though it _was_ Yusuke after all. He definitely didn’t feel things the way others did at the best of times.

“Well, do you feel any better yet?” asked Ryuji hopefully once the other boy seemed to run out of steam.

“Perhaps marginally,” replied Yusuke. “However, I believe this exercise has rewarded me with an idea.”

“Oh yeah?” Ryuji leaned forward eagerly.

Yusuke was fumbling in his pockets for something. “Take this,” he instructed, holding out a handful of loose change, “and get me a bag of ice from the convenience store down the street.”

“Dude, are you for real!?” Ryuji couldn’t contain his shock. “You want me to buy you a bag of ice?”

“I am quite positive that ice is the solution to my problem,” insisted Yusuke. “It came to me in a flash of inspiration.” He shook the coins in his hand to emphasize his point.

“Is that the rest of your money?” asked Ryuji cautiously, and Yusuke huffed impatiently through his nose.

“That is of no matter. This is a necessity of survival.”

Ryuji narrowly stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “I’ll buy you the stupid ice myself,” he relented, “if it will stop you from spending the rest of your money on a bag of ice.”

“I’ve spent it on worse,” protested Yusuke, which was possibly the truest thing he’d said yet, but Ryuji shook his head.

“Stay here while I run to the convenience store, okay?”

“I am resigned to my fate,” replied Yusuke, and Ryuji took that as a sign of agreement.

 _This is the absolute stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life,_ thought Ryuji as he stepped back out into the blinding sunlight. He could be back at the arcade, spending his day the way summer vacation was meant to be spent, but instead he was buying a bag of ice to avoid arguing with the most stubborn person he’d ever met. He desperately wished that someone would stop him and tell him how stupid this was, if only to confirm his own feelings (this couldn’t be _normal_ , right?), but the clerk at the convenience store didn’t even bat an eye. In fact, if the nearly empty cooler was any indication, Ryuji hadn’t been the only one to buy a bag of ice today.

On the way back to the dorms, the bag of ice swung over one shoulder (and the cold feeling _was_ rather nice after the heat of the day, though he would never admit it to Yusuke), Ryuji reached for his phone and sent a one-handed text to Ren, along with a selfie of himself and the bag of ice.

_> Buying a bag of ice for the disaster artist, bet you’re jealous._

There was no immediate response, and Ryuji sighed.

He was much politer to the security guard this time around, though he stopped just short of apologizing for his previous behaviour (which was Yusuke’s fault, not his, so he didn’t see why he should feel compelled to apologize in the first place). The scene in the dorm room was unchanged, with Yusuke in the exact same position he’d been when Ryuji had left. He wondered momentarily if the boy had spent the entire day in that position, and decided it was better not to know.

“I brought your ice.” Ryuji was quite proud that he managed to restrain himself from adding “idiot” to the end of his sentence.

“Pour it on me.”

Ryuji stared at him, immediately wishing he had added it after all. “ _What!?_ ”

“I said, pour it on me,” repeated Yusuke, sounding annoyed. “Why else would I have had you bring a bag of ice all the way here?”

 _I don’t know!_ screamed Ryuji in his head. How could he possibly predict the way Yusuke’s mind worked when it didn’t seem to follow any train of logic he’d ever encountered? Out loud, he said, “I dunno, I thought you’d at least want to do it in the bathtub or something. Isn’t it going to make a mess out here?”

“Ice is just water, Ryuji. It will dry and no one will be the wiser.”

“I know that ice is water, and that’s not the point!” But Ryuji also didn’t see the point in arguing further, so he instead reached out his free hand. “At least let me put your phone somewhere safe first.”

Yusuke handed it over without complaint and closed his eyes, seeming to brace himself for the incoming onslaught of ice and water. Ryuji tore open one end of the bag.

“You sure about this?” he asked, hopeful that Yusuke would finally see the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Yes. Now pour it.”

Ryuji shrugged and did as he was told.

Relief. Immediate relief. Yusuke couldn’t hold back his laughter as the frigid mixture of half-melted ice washed over him, drenching him immediately. It was absolutely glorious, the most wonderful feeling he’d ever felt in his life. Better even than the most delicious bowl of ramen (plus ramen was hot anyways and thus objectively worse at this particular moment in time). He wondered if there was some way to portray this feeling of jubilation in a painting—perhaps a portrait of a joyous waterfall, spilling over the edge of a cliff into an unknown canyon. Yes, that would do nicely, he thought, and forgetting that there was someone else there he laughed again.

“Dude, are you okay?” Ryuji was leaning over him with concern. “Was it that horrible?”

Yusuke pushed himself into an upright position for the first time since early that morning. “On the contrary, Ryuji, it was absolutely wonderful. I feel immeasurably refreshed.”

“Of course you do,” grumbled Ryuji, once again in the way that meant Yusuke wasn’t supposed to respond. “Hey, let’s go somewhere cooler before you get too hot again, yeah? Want to stop at Leblanc?”

Yusuke nodded. “I believe this will sustain me long enough to make it to Leblanc.”

“Great, let’s go. Maybe we can convince Boss to make us curry.” Ryuji pulled his phone out of his pocket to let Ren know they were coming, and noticed a text from their leader himself.

_> Don’t tell me he’s making people dump ice on him again._

_Again?_ wondered Ryuji, but like everything else that had happened thus far he brushed it off. “Hey Yusuke, you should pro’lly change into dry clothes,” he suggested as he began to type a reply.

_> That’s exactly what he did actually. I’m bringing him to Leblanc before I kill him._

“I don’t believe that will be necessary,” replied the other boy, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his clothes were dripping all over the floor. “It’s only water, after all. It will dry.”

Ryuji’s phone vibrated. Another text from Ren.

_> Make sure he doesn’t come in here dripping wet again or Sojiro will throw a fit._

Ryuji groaned. Just when he thought he was free. “At least dry off with a towel,” he begged, and when Yusuke stubbornly shook his head Ryuji grabbed the towel himself and held it out. “Dry. Now,” he ordered, his ability to make complete sentences compromised by the immense force of willpower it took not to start shouting.

Yusuke seemed to sense that his friend was at the limits of his goodwill and grudgingly accepted the towel. Ryuji leaned back against the wall, taking a deep breath. He would never allow anyone to call him impatient after this.

“Ryuji, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to help,” said Yusuke, out of nowhere. “I had resigned myself to an excruciating and lonely death until you happened to come along.”

 _You texted me saying you were dying!_ thought Ryuji, but he was oddly touched all the same. “Anything for a friend, Yusuke,” he replied with a sigh. And, despite everything, he meant it.


End file.
